Exporting the Barcelona Model to London: the shaping role of the architectural profession.

Transcription

1 Exporting the Barcelona Model to London: the shaping role of the architectural profession. By Andy Thornley (LSE) The Barcelona Model has probably become the most famous example of global urban policy transfer. It is widely recognised as a prime example of best practice. However the view taken here is that this is due to reasons other than any inherent excellence. In fact it is argued that the Barcelona model lacks clarity and has been contested. So why has its widespread popularity endured? Following McCann and others, it is suggested that such policy transfer requires a detailed analysis at different levels, from socio-economic and political forces to the activity of individual actors. 1 At one level the successful diffusion of the Barcelona model can be related to the vigorous city marketing strategy of the city. The city is promoted as a centre for European business and tourism, the Capital of the Mediterranean, to compete with Madrid as Spain s world city. It advertises itself as the top European business choice for Quality of Life. The Barcelona model fits well into this strategy contributing to the image of a city with outstanding urban design, clear governance, and a good strategic planning framework. González explores the way policy tourism, in the form of experts visiting Barcelona, has contributed to the international diffusion of the model and shows that in 2008 the city was active in 28 international urban networks. 2 Barcelona's city marketing strategy has to be accompanied by actors who adopt and carry forward the messages of the 'model'. Here we will illustrate one dimension of this diffusion process the role of the international architectural elite in shaping the form of the Barcelona model in its transfer to London. 3 We will start with a very brief outline of the model itself to indicate its complexity and inadequacies. This will provide a base to show that the transfer of the model often involves selectivity and distortion. What is the Barcelona model? Many authors have pointed out that the model is not a clear construct and is made up of diverse elements. 4 It is suggested here that these can be grouped under three 1

2 headings: urban design, governance and planning. The urban design strand involves the use of small-scale interventions to upgrade neighbourhoods and improve the image of the city. This programme began in the 1980s and attracted a lot of praise from the international architectural community, culminating in the award of the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal in The architects behind this urban design programme, such as Oriol Bohigas, were very critical of strategic city planning claiming that a project-by-project approach was the way to develop a city. Given that another strand of the model concerns strategic planning there is clearly a tension within the model itself. The second aspect of the model focuses on governance and the merits of a strong Mayor. A strong leader can promote the city s image and also build a supportive coalition of interests from different levels of government, business and citizens. The third element concerns strategic planning and focuses on the way hosting the Olympic games was used to achieve broader policy goals and an on-going urban legacy. This included new urban motorways and opening up areas for development. Earlier plans were unable to do this because of political opposition and bureaucratic inertia. However the implementation of the model has generated considerable criticism from within the city and beyond. 5 A major complaint has been the overemphasis on urban design, which although gaining praise from international architects, has not been seen as contributing to the social needs of local communities. Gentrification and the perceived primacy given to private interests have also led to increasing opposition. The City Council, keen to continue the Olympic strategic planning and event-led approach, devised another event the Universal Forum of Cultures 2004 backed by UNESCO. They used this to regenerate another part of the city, Poblenou, as a cultural and knowledge quarter. However this project has been controversial involving clashes with local residents. This reapplication of the model occurred in different political and economic circumstances to those that existed when planning the Olympics in the 1980s. It shows the sensitivity of any urban policy model to its contextual surroundings and the problems of transferability over either time or space. We will now examine the transfer to London. 2

3 Architects as prime transfer agents. Given the vague and contradictory nature of the model it would not be surprising to find that its transfer involved selectivity, especially if it is used to fulfill rhetorical or political purposes. The strongest link between the model and London has been through its urban design strand. As indicated by the RIBA Gold Medal, architects in Britain have been strongly supportive of the urban design strategy employed in Barcelona even before the Olympic games. Many well-known British architects, such as Norman Foster, have been working in Barcelona. However it is Richard Rogers, an advisor to the mayor of Barcelona, who has been the most vocal advocate for Barcelona. As he has also been influential in British government circles he has been a significant conduit for the transfer of the model, or more correctly the design strand of the model. We will outline his influence as the leading exponent of the model although he should perhaps be regarded simply as the most evident voice of a widespread view within British architectural circles. In 1992 Rogers wrote a book called 'A New London' (Penguin Press) with Mark Fisher, a senior Labour Party Member of Parliament. This presented a call to action for a new approach to the development of London. The book opens with the claim that, in the context of inter-city competition, London is falling behind other European cities, especially Barcelona. London must learn from the way these cities create their high quality urban environment. Barcelona s approach of investing in small-scale projects to improve open spaces and squares is the leading strategy advocated for London. The book contains detailed accounts of the urban design programme in Barcelona including the preparations for the Olympics. The New London book was a kind of manifesto and aimed at a broad public audience. Roger s was able to extend the influence of his ideas further when he was appointed by the Labour government to lead an Urban Task Force on the revitalisation of British cities. The ensuing report, published in 2000 with the title Towards an Urban Renaissance, had a considerable impact on central and local government policy. This report had a forward by the Mayor of Barcelona and constantly mentioned the Barcelona approach as best practice. The most important policy outcome was to increase densities within cities, seek to satisfy more of the housing demand within city boundaries, and undertake urban design initiatives that 3

4 would improve the quality of urban life. One of the aims was to make cities more attractive to the middle class who would therefore be less inclined to live in suburbs or the countryside. However one aspect of this approach was its uncritical view of gentrification. As in Barcelona, this generated criticism that it focused too much on the physical environment and ignored the social and economic processes of change. The next opportunity for Rogers to extend his influence came in 2000 when Ken Livingstone was elected as London s first directly elected Mayor. Livingstone appointed Rogers as his Chief Advisor on Architecture and Urbanism. One of Roger's first actions was to invite the leading architects from Barcelona to London to present their ideas on how to revitalise London through actions plans for selected public spaces. This illustrates the strong links between Barcelona and London architects. In the longer term the Architecture and Urbanism Unit was not a powerful force in Livingstone s plans for London - as he adopted a wider and more strategic approach. The Unit became less influential and was reorganised without Rogers in A new surge in interest in Barcelona came after London won the bid to host the Olympics in This time the aspect of the Barcelona model that received most attention was the way that the planning approach linked the Olympics to regeneration and an on-going legacy. However the urban design element also continued to play a role and Rogers once more wrote in the media about the great success of the Barcelona model. The Barcelona connection was evident in the early planning for the Olympics. Rogers s firm prepared the early Master Plan for the Olympic site as part of the bid preparation. This was done in conjunction with the Barcelona-based architect David Mackay who had been heavily involved in the Barcelona Games. Other plans have since superseded this early Master plan, however Richard Rogers and his colleagues continue to be architectural advisors to the Olympic development. The story outlined above shows that there were strong links between Barcelona and London in the transfer of urban policy ideas. The links were strongest in terms of the urban design strategy, although after London won the Olympic bid the issue of regeneration legacy also received attention. However employing these aspects of the model has also generated skepticism. The critique of the model that has emerged in Barcelona has also been evident in London. The design-led approach is associated with gentrification, a neglect of social and economics dimensions and a tendency to 4

5 piece-meal development. Many commentators and local community groups in London fear that the regeneration legacy for the poor communities of east London will be limited and that gentrification itself will be seen as an indicator of successful revitalisation. The architectural profession has dominated the policy transfer with its emphasis on the physical environment and limited appreciation of the social, economic and political processes. The result is a very selective, and uncritical, adoption of the model. 1 McCann, E. (2011), Urban Policy Mobilities and Global Circuits of Knowledge: Toward a Research Agenda, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 101:1, González, S. (2011), Bilbao and Barcelona in Motion. How Urban Regeneration Models Travel and Mutate in the Global Flows of policy Tourism, Urban Studies, 48(7), One of these networks the Centro Iberoamericano para el Desarrollo Estratégicop Urbano (CIDEU) was created by Barcelona as a network of Latin American Cities to promote strategic planning processes and it has a permanent headquarters in the city. There are more than 70 cities in the network applying the Barcelona methodology with technical assistance for Barcelona City Council. 3 The transfer of design concepts by elite architects is of course a world-wide phenomenon, for example see Olds, K. (2001), Globalization and Urban Change, Oxford University Press, for an account of Richard Roger s activity in Shanghai. 4 For example: Monclús F. J. (2003), The Barcelona model: an original formula? Planning Perspectives, 18, ; Marshall T. (2000), Urban planning and governance: is there a Barcelona model?, International Planning Studies, 5(3), ; Garcia-Ramon M. D. and Albet A. (2000), Commentary. Pre-Olympics and Post-Olympics Barcelona, a model for urban regeneration today?, Environment and Planning A, 32, For example: Garcia-Ramon and Albet (2000), op cit; Zusman, P. (2004), Activism as a collective cultural praxis: challenging the Barcelona urban model, in D. Fuller and R. Kitchin (eds) Radical Theory/Critical Praxis. Making a Difference beyond the Academy, Praxis (e) Press; Gdaniec, C. (2000), Cultural industries, information technology and the regeneration of post-industrial urban landscapes. Poblenou in Barcelona a virtual city? Geojournal, 50, ; Blanco, I. (2009), Does a Barcelona Model really exist? Local Government Studies, 35(3), Much of the opposition stems from the failure of the Olympics to provide the expected social housing, and the effects of privatization and gentrification. Andy Thornley is Emeritus Professor of Urban Planning at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He has written extensively on the relationship between politics and urban planning and his most recent book is Planning World Cities Globalization and Urban Politics, Palgrave/Macmillan, (2011). 5